Reason and Emotion in the Christian LifeAnonymousCollege

In the Inferno, Dante teaches readers about the role of reason and emotion in the Christian life. On his journey through Hell, Dante the Pilgrim shows unregulated human emotion through the different reactions he has towards the sinners. Virgil acts as his guide through Hell and teaches Dante that compassion must be within the limits of reason, but on the journey, there are times when reason is not always superior to emotion. Reason was not enough to get Virgil through the gate of Dis and the same reliance on reason, rather than emotion, later causes him to be deceived by the devils. Using Dante the Pilgrim to show human emotion and Virgil as reason, Dante the Poet demonstrates an inconsistency between the need for reason and emotion. Without the regulation of emotion, the Christian soul would stray off the path to God, but if emotion were always subject to reason, it would also be impossible to reach God.

On his journey through Hell, Dante the Pilgrim expresses an unregulated form of human emotion based on personal beliefs and experiences. This can be seen in the varying levels of compassion he shows towards different sinners. As Dante the Pilgrim descends deeper into Hell, the amount of times he shows pity for the sinners...